Capsule for bottles

ABSTRACT

A capsule top or crown for bottles of sparkling wine or champagne in which the capsule or crown has a skirt portion of frustoconical shape with one or more crests formed along a generatrix in the skirt portion to enable proper orientation of the capsule with respect to printed matter thereon so that folds formed in the skirt during attachment will be properly oriented with respect to the printed matter.

ited States Patent Inventor Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Priority Rene Lorieux Cachan, France 16,351

Mar. 4, 1970 Aug. 24, 1971 Societe dc Conditioeut en Aluminium SCAL GP Paris, France Mar. 7, 1969 France 69.06350 CAPSULE FOR BOTTLES 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl....,. Int. Cl.

[50] Field of Smrch 215/38 [56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,131,438 9/1938 Jensen 2l5/38B 3,232,469 2/1966 Piazze .L. 215/38 B Primary Examiner-George T. Hall AnarneyMcDougall, Hersh & Scott ABSTRACT: A capsule top or crown for bottles of sparkling wine or champagne in which the capsule or crown has a skirt portion of frustoconical shape with one or more crests formed along a generatrix in the skirt portion to enable proper orientation of the capsule with respect to printed matter thereon so that folds formed in the skirt during attachment will be properly oriented with respect to the printed matter.

PATENTED um 3,601, 27 5 I INVENTOR. Rena Lee-seam BY 'Wl-S. ouaqm, Md)

CAPSULE FOR BOTTLES This invention relates to a capsule top of elongate and substantially frustoconical shape.

Top capsules or crowns for sparkling wines and champagnes differ somewhat from capsules for tranquil wines by their greater length or height. They are generally in the form of a trunk of frustoconical shape having a circular base with a top angle ranging from 7 to 10. The producers trademark or other identification is printed on a side surface of the capsule along a generatrix thereof.

In order to crimp such capsules, the side surface ofthe conically shaped skirt or trunk is applied adjacent the outer surface of the neck portion of the bottle, as by a machine which generally has four elastic blocks, with the excess material being taken between the blocks to form four folds that become flattened during a subsequent operation. In order to maintain a suitable appearance, it is desirable for the capsule to be oriented with respect to the blocks prior to the crimping operation so that the inscription will be disposed in an area free of folds or of little or no deformation, such as in a position equally spaced between two successive folds;

This operation is being automatically accomplished currently on high performance equipment with the aid of a device that causes the bottles to rotate about their vertical axes until stopped in response to detection of the inscription or mark in front of an optical detection means. This method requires expensive apparatus and still remains subject to frequent failures.

It is an object of this invention to provide a system which corrects these deficiencies in a simple and economical manner and which is not subject to frequent failures or misalignment of the capsules.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a capsule embodying the features of this invention, and

FIG. 2 is an end view of the capsule shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, the base 1 of the capsule is formed with a circular arc portion 2 which terminates into two tangential straight lines 3 that meet at an angle of approximately at 5. A crest 4 is formed along a substantial portion of the length of the conical trunk 6 along a generatrix starting from the top of the angle 3.

With a crest of the type described, it becomes possible to orient the capsules before presentation to the crowning device. With the described construction, the capsules can be placed in a gutter or feed chute, preferably of V-shape, for feeding in a predetermined position to the crimping station. The capsules can be stacked or telescoped one on the other for advancement in feeding relationship through the feed chute so that the individual capsules will arrive at the desired oriented position at the crimping station. Thus the skirt will be folded along the desired locations relative to the printed matter or the like.

It will be understoodthat the concepts described are not limited to capsules of rounded or conical shape but the desired results can be achieved with capsules of other shapes such as capsules having a square base in which event the capsule will have four crests.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement and operation without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A capsule for bottles having the construction of bottles for sparkling wines or champagne in which the capsule has a skirt portion of frustoconical shape and at least one crest formed along a generatrix in said skirt portion.

. A capsule as claimed in claim 1 in which the base of said capsule defines a circular arc portion with two straight lines extending tangentially from said arc portion to a common meeting point which defines an angle therebetween, thereby to provide a crest which extends along the conical surface of the skirt along a generatrix which commences at the top of the angle 3. A capsule as claimed in claim 2 in which the angle between the meeting straight lines is about 90.

4. A capsule as claimed in claim 1 in which two or more crests are formed in the skirt in equally circumferentially spaced apart relation. 

1. A capsule for bottles having the construction of bottles for sparkling wines or champagne in which the capsule has a skirt portion of frustoconical shape and at least one crest formed along a generatrix in said skirt portion.
 2. A capsule as claimed in claim 1 in which the base of said capsule defines a circular arc portion with two straight lines extending tangentially from said arc portion to a common meeting point which defines an angle therebetween, thereby to provide a crest which extends along the conical surface of the skirt along a generatrix which commences at the top of the angle.
 3. A capsule as claimed in claim 2 in which the angle between the meeting straight lines is about 90*.
 4. A capsule as claimed in claim 1 in which two or more crests are formed in the skirt in equally circumferentially spaced apart relation. 